SANTEE – On a calm, cool day at Santee Lakes last week, a group of preteens hung out near a gazebo, arguing about what movie they were going to watch later that night.

“Not a chick flick, please,” groaned Grant Horton, 13, as his friends performed tricks on their skateboards, kicking them in the air and shouting as they landed a move. To some, the scenario looked familiar – boisterous kids passing time on their skateboards – but with one exception.

In the middle of this pack was an adult, Garrett Langston, riding right along with them.

Langston is a staff member at the Santee Teen Center, a drop-in after-school program for youths 12-17. The center celebrated its new location at Santee Lakes with an open house yesterday.

The new location features one distinct perk that past locations didn't: the great outdoors.

Instead of a strip mall, where the center was originally located, there are trees. Instead of a busy street, there are lakes. Students no longer have to play ball on cement; they can sink their feet into soft grass.

“It gives you stuff to do,” said Ariana Smallwood, 13. “It's a home away from home.”

Teens can even fish as long as they have a permit, said Aliah Lieras, recreation program supervisor for the city of Santee. The center is working on obtaining permits for group fishing expeditions.

Santee Teen Center

The Santee Teen Center is open from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays at Santee Lakes, 9310 Fanita Parkway. During the summer, the center opens at 2 p.m. on weekdays. Students in grades 6-12 are welcome to attend. Annual membership is $20 for Santee residents and $30 for nonresidents, or $3 per day. Financial assistance is available. For more information, call (619) 258-4100, ext. 120 or visit ci.santee.ca.us.

Just a couple of steps away from the lakes is a small building with a simple white banner on the front that reads “Santee Teen Center.” Inside, brightly colored barstools, tables and couches are illuminated underneath trendy lantern lights. A pool table sits in the center of the room, near a foosball table and a row of computers. The cabinets are stocked with board games, sports equipment and crafts. Student artwork decorates the walls and a breeze sweeps through the building.

The center has a full kitchen, where students can learn to cook small meals, like mini pizzas on English muffins. Last month, teens baked cookies for the staff at Santee Lakes, Lieras said. The baking was that month's “random act of kindness,” something the teens have done every month since Sept. 11.

Most days start with an hour of “downtime” when students can finish homework, read a book or play a board game, Lieras said. When they're done, the staff and students take advantage of the daylight and head outside for some sort of organized activity, like flag football. As the sun retreats, the group spends an hour inside making crafts, cooking or using “free time” to socialize with others before cleaning up and heading home.

There are also planned activities, like sumo wrestling or pie-eating contests. The center gives teens company if they are latchkey kids or provides activities if they are restless. It also potentially steers them away from drugs or bad influences, Lieras said.

“The youth in the community have something to do that's positive and allows them to interact with positive adults,” Lieras said. “When they're within our program, they're highly supervised and we monitor their behavior. They have to follow some strong behavioral guidelines.”

The Santee Teen Center – funded by the city of Santee – opened in January 2001 in the Mission Creek shopping center. It remained there until earlier this year, when it moved out and became an all-ages “mobile” recreation program, visiting local parks after school before opening near Lake Five at Santee Lakes.

The new facility is less expensive to lease than the strip mall location, said Susan Richardson, recreation services manager for the city of Santee. Annually, the city will save a little more than $60,000 in rent alone. Although the actual center is half the size of the old location, the “backyard” is enormous. Students have more open space to run, throw, yell, skate and play without distracting tenants or shops around them.

The city's proposed budget for teen center operations is about $82,000 for the next fiscal year, Richardson said. The figure includes the mobile recreation program – which will continue – as well as other youth programs.

Jeff Eidson, 16, has been a member of the Santee Teen Center since it first opened. “I've got different friends here than I do at school,” he said. “It's a fun place to go.”

The center's new location is a remodeled office building, said Allen Carlisle, park and recreation manager for Padre Dam Municipal Water District, which owns Santee Lakes.

“We thought the teen center would be a great partnership for the city and Padre Dam,” Carlisle said. “It makes sense to work together. We both provide park and recreation and community services.

“It's been great so far,” he said. “The kids that usually come in and hang out in the park now have organized, supervised activities. It's keeping those kids engaged in a structured environment.”

Attendance has been steadily increasing since the center moved into its new facility, Lieras said. On average, about 20 teenagers pass through the center's doors daily, most from neighboring schools, including Sycamore Canyon, Hill Creek and Carlton Hills, where Grant Horton attends school.

“I started coming here because I had nothing to do,” Grant said. “If I wasn't here, I'd be at my house bored, playing the same video game I've been playing for the last month.”